At the beginning of his engineering career in the 1960s, Gerald Marxman created the combustion model and theory for a then-new type of rocket propulsion system, called the "hybrid" rocket. He is recognized as a pioneer of this propulsion system, which offers major safety advantages over conventional rockets. His theory, still used today, is described as one of the six most important contributions to the development of hybrid rocket technology in a book to be published soon by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. SpaceShipOne, the first successful non-government spacecraft, was powered by a hybrid rocket and now resides in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington, D.C. Spacecraft now being designed to carry commercial passengers into space are expected to use hybrid rocket propulsion as well.

In the 1970s Dr. Marxman was senior vice president of Envirodyne Industries, one of the first environmental companies in the United States, which he joined when it was a tiny start-up and helped build into a successful, publicly traded corporation. In 1980 he co-founded Digideck, Inc., later sold to a consortium of television companies. In 1982 he co-founded and became President of CommTech International, a specialized venture capital firm formed to develop and commercialize technologies from research universities and other leading R&D organizations. CommTech was among the first firms of its kind. It is best known for sponsoring a project at Stanford University to develop "Digital Subscriber Line" (DSL) technology and co-founding the company that brought it to market. This technology became the officially designated DSL standard for fast internet connections over phone lines, now used worldwide.

In 1998 Dr. Marxman co-founded Care2, Inc., to inform and empower people seeking to have an impact on social and environmental issues, and at the end of 2006 he resigned as President of CommTech to devote more time to Care2 and other personal interests. With nearly seven million members, Care2 is now the largest online social network enabling "conscious consumers" to discover, share and take action on social and environmental concerns.

Dr. Marxman received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, a B.S. (first in his graduating class) and M.S. from Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) and a B.S. magna cum laude from Monmouth College. He is a trustee emeritus of Monmouth College, serves on the boards of directors of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm and several privately-held corporations, and is the author of some twenty publications on engineering and applied science topics. 

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